US marks 40th anniversary of landmark abortion case

Each year, anti-abortion demonstrators march on the anniversary of the court decision.

AFP: Chip Somodevilla, file photo

Both sides in the American abortion debate are marking the 40th anniversary of the controversial US Supreme Court decision which established a woman's right to an abortion.

The delicate question over whether a woman has the right to choose to terminate a pregnancy - and thus, critics argue, end a life - has long caused deep and bitter divisions in America.

Four decades ago in a case known as Roe versus Wade, a pregnant single woman challenged the abortion laws in Texas.

The US Supreme Court found that laws prohibiting abortion in the first three months of pregnancy violated a woman's constitutional right to privacy.

Nancy Keenan, who heads a national pro-choice group, says their work continues.

"Women in rural areas sometimes have to travel hundreds of miles to access this very basic common medical care," she said.

Abortion opponents are marking the anniversary of the decision with prayers and a planned march through Washington DC later this week.

This year's March for Life will take place three days later than usual due to festivities surrounding president Barack Obama's inauguration.

The pro-choice group the National Organisation for Women also plans to hold a candlelight vigil at the Supreme Court.

Stark divide

About 1,800 clinics provide abortion services across the US, but 83 per cent of counties do not have such centres.

Polls lay bare the stark divide between the pro-life and pro-choice camps.

A Pew poll showed that more than six out of 10 Americans would not like to see the high court overturn Roe versus Wade, against 29 per cent who would like to see it struck down - opinions that have not shifted much since surveys conducted 10 and 20 years ago.

The latest survey also found that 53 per cent of respondents said abortion was "not that important compared to other issues," an increase from 48 per cent in 2009 and 32 per cent in 2006.

And the ratio of those seeing abortion as a "critical issue facing the country" dropped from 28 per cent in 2006 to 15 per cent in 2009 and 18 per cent today.

But abortion remains a heated political topic that can trigger the rise - or downfall - of conservative politicians in particular.

A flurry of abortion-related laws have nonetheless been passed at the state level, usually advanced by the powerful pro-life lobby and fought by the pro-choicers.

In May, Gallup said there had never been so few pro-choice supporters - at 41 per cent, against 56 per cent in 1995.

Meanwhile 50 per cent said they were pro-life, compared to 33 per cent 16 years ago.

The Guttmacher Institute on sexual and reproductive health counted a record number of 92 abortion-related laws passed in 2011, and 43 in 2012.

They range across a wide spectrum, from measures limiting late-stage abortions to barring health care insurance reimbursements for the operation and a requirement for the pregnant woman to get a sonogram.